Tim Solliday has always relished painting panoramic scenes. This month viewers have the opportunity to see one such signature Solliday work, MIGRATION, a multifigure painting that depicts American Indians moving across a western landscape on horseback. MIGRATION is one of about eight new works by the artist featured in Native West, a solo show that opens at Maxwell Alexander Gallery with a reception on Saturday, April 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. “Panoramic, progressive paintings offer me a great chance to show many different characters in expressive actions,” Solliday says. “Long, progressive paintings are very dramatic and make a great composition.”

The Southern California-based Solliday is an established artist and a regular participant in prestigious shows, including the annual Prix de West at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK. An early influence on his fine-art career, Solliday says, was studying with California Impressionist Theodore N. Lukits [1897-1992]. Solliday’s style and subject matter, though, is strongly reminiscent of Taos Society of Artists members such as Ernest Blumenschein and Ernest Martin Hennings. Like some of the Taos artists, Solliday is known for his expressionistic approach and vibrant colors in depictions of the southwestern landscape and its peoples. While the artist enjoys working on panoramic scenes, he also displays a penchant for nocturnes like HOME FIRES, a painting in the show that portrays an Indian chief standing by a stream while looking back at his village bathed in the moonlight.

Gallery owner Beau Alexander doesn’t hesitate to call Solliday a “living master. His numerous years of outdoor study and painting directly from nature give his studio pieces life beyond realism,” Alexander says. “Each piece is built up from preparatory composition sketches, then studies from life, and then onto the final canvas where all of the elements are combined. His traditional method of working is a throwback to an academic era in art, and his unique style is what makes him one of the most sought-after contemporary western artists today. If Solliday were alive in early 1900s New Mexico, he’d be welcomed with open arms as a member of the Taos Society of Artists.”

– See more at: http://www.southwestart.com/events/maxwell-alexander-apr2015#sthash.ieVk1FKX.dpuf